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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29377527">Summer Thunderstorms</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/makethestorylast/pseuds/makethestorylast'>makethestorylast</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Hatchetfield Universe - Team StarKid</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Cuddling &amp; Snuggling, F/M, Fluff, Post-Canon, Post-Canon Fix-It, i just think they deserve to be happy, sue me</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 06:33:59</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>980</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29377527</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/makethestorylast/pseuds/makethestorylast</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Emma reminisces about what her life has become after the apocalypse and how much she appreciates having someone by her side.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Paul Matthews/Emma Perkins</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>29</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Summer Thunderstorms</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>CW // None</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  
  <span>Emma expected everything to go horribly wrong at every corner.</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>And could you blame her? Years of living in a shitty town, only to finally, </span>
  <em>
    <span>finally</span>
  </em>
  <span> have a taste of freedom just to get dragged back in. A meaningless degree she still hadn’t finished, a dead-end job at a shitty coffee shop, and then suddenly the town was plunged into a musical apocalypse.</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>Yeah, she’d earned the right to be cynical at this point. She thought so, anyway.</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>But it was getting harder and harder to be cynical nowadays. Maybe it was the distance from Hatchetfield. Colorado was so far, it almost felt like a dream. Or maybe a year of semi-normal life meant she was finally getting over the trauma of being surrounded by the singing, dancing, zombified shells of the people she knew and didn’t quite love.</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>She stretched out on the couch, swinging her legs up to rest on the open cushions. Her back popped louder than she expected, and when she blinked, her heavy eyes struggled to stay open.</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>Maybe it was something about being here, being safe. Maybe.</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>She smiled to herself. </span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>Maybe it was some<em>one.</em></span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>God, she was so in love. It was fucking gross.</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>She shifted, the blanket under her twisting and folding. It was early in the summer, and even though it was nearing 9 pm and the sun was slowly setting, the heat still hung in the air. It was humid and sticky, and Emma wanted nothing more than for a cool breeze to blow in through the open windows.</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>She laid back against the armrest and let her mind wander again. Inevitably, it always ended back on Paul. Boring, white bread, 9-5, black coffee </span>
  <em>
    <span>Paul.</span>
  </em>
  <span> For all intents and purposes the blandest, most uninteresting person on Earth. </span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>This time, her thoughts lingered on his eyes, the way the corners of them crinkled when he smiled, and how every time she talked he watched her with rapt attention, like there was nothing on Earth more important.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>    Her dream of running away, of disappearing from Hatchetfield again without a trace, was always meant to be solitary. But after everything, Emma couldn’t imagine a life without the guy. And besides, the least she could do after spitting blood all over him was offer him a jump-start on a new life. She had it all planned out and everything. Of course, never to the level Jane did—and the thought sent a pang through her heart—but she always knew what she wanted, even if she never expected to have it. A little house. A big farm. A dog. </span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>Funnily enough, a boyfriend never made it on the list, but she wasn’t about to complain.</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>Paul was working late again that night—leave it to him to restart his entire life just to manage to find an equally boring desk job. Emma always stayed up waiting. Part of it was fear, sure—the last time they were separated he blew up a fucking meteor and almost died—but a much bigger part was just knowing that he would be home soon. She never expected to enjoy the idea of sharing her life with someone, but now it almost felt strange to be alone.</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>She yawned, stretching her arms above her head. She tried to wipe away the constant sticky feeling the humidity and warmth brought around to no avail. Her eyes hurt with the effort to keep them open, so she let them close, relaxing further into the couch cushions. A light breeze blew through, not quite cutting through the thick blanket of warmth.</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>Somewhere in the distance, thunder rolled. A year ago, Emma would’ve jumped up, her eyes snapping open. Now, she just listened to the way it echoed over the stretch of empty land. She couldn’t pinpoint when thunderstorms made the switch from terrifying to soothing, but now, instead of her heart racing, she couldn’t even find the motivation to get up and close the windows. She just listened to the storm roll in as she drifted off.</span>
</p>
<hr/>
<p>
  
  <span>Emma rolled over, completely forgetting that she fell asleep on an extremely narrow couch, but miraculously managed to not fall off. Instead, she blinked, her bleary eyes not taking in everything immediately. Thunder still rolled outside intermittently, though the rain had long since stopped. She shivered. The windowsills were damp, but the room was finally temperate, maybe even a little chilly. She blinked again and noticed a bright yellow sticky note on the coffee table.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    
  </em>
  <em>
    <span>Went to bed, didn’t want to wake you. If you see this before morning, come upstairs. you know the couch does awful things to your back. -Paul ♡</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>She laughed. What a dork, signing his name with a heart and everything. </span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>The blanket underneath her warmed up considerably from sleeping on it, so she bundled it up and managed to stumble upstairs and down the hall. The bedroom was just as cold, and Paul was still asleep, his back to the door. He didn’t even stir when she walked in. In fact, Emma managed to wrap herself in the blanket, get under the duvet, and ruminate over whether she remembered to shut off the lights downstairs before Paul moved at all. And even then, it was just to wrap an arm around her and sleepily pull her close.</span>
</p>
<p>
  
  <span>She absentmindedly rubbed circles on his arm, letting herself relax into his embrace. Moonlight lit up patches of silver on the floor and windowsill, and the cold air blew in, still chilly on her face and arms, but she was safe here. safe in Colorado, safe in their home, safe in Paul’s arms. The blankets were warm and every so often a crack of lightning would cast the room in odd shadows before a deep roll of thunder that Emma knew couldn’t possibly hurt her. She was safe. She was happy.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Remember to drop a comment/kudos if you enjoyed!</p>
<p>&lt;3</p>
<p> <a href="https://linktr.ee/makethestorylast">Check out my other socials here!</a></p></blockquote></div></div>
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